The Xavierite
On Nov. 7, the Mercy Students for Peace and Justice (MSPJ) held an Open Mic event at the Resident Center in Regina Hall from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The event was free and open to any and all Saint Xavier students and faculty that were interested in attending.
“I love Open Mic nights, just because we get a lot of people to come out that you don’t usually see around campus, especially in the freshmen dorms when a lot of freshmen could actually come out of their shells,” MSPJ president Shay O’Toole said.
O’Toole also said, “It’s just good to see a lot of people come out for an event. Sometimes it’s hard at this school because there’s a lot of commuters that don’t come back for these events.”
According to Samer Alhato, freshman, this is not the first Open Mic event that MSPJ has hosted this year. “I think there have been three so far, and I’ve gone to every single one with my friends,” Alhato said.
The Open Mic night was open for anyone that was interested in getting behind the microphone in front of their peers and perform their chosen piece.
However, this event was not just limited to people singing songs; there were also people reciting poetry, telling stories, free-styling rapping, and some even used this as an opportunity to practice their assignment for speech class.
“For my first open mic, I went up with two of my friends and we sang ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen,” Alhato said.
“Then the second one, a lot more people showed up and a lot of them started coming up and reading poetry. And I just thought, ‘Why don’t I just come up and tell a story?’ So I told a story the second time about when I was traveling and I saw poverty in different countries, and how people have adjusted to it.” said Alhato
Alhato continues by saying, “For this past one, I decided to do a speech on feminism because that’s actually my speech for speech class, and a lot of people told me that it was really good.”
The MSPJ is primarily focused on following the critical concerns of the Sisters of Mercy, which include non-violence, racism, earth, women, and immigration.
The MSPJ plan events that live out the principles that are important to the Sisters of Mercy and that will educate Saint Xavier students on the importance of the critical concerns that shape their university.
“We do Open Mic nights pretty much just to have a positive community experience,” O’Toole said.
As well as promoting a more positive environment for the students at Saint Xavier University, O’Toole also said, “This last week we were trying to do a little bit of education on self-empowerment because there’s been a lot of talks about anti-bullying around the school in regards to social media, and one of our exec. board members just really wanted to drive the idea that if we’re all self-empowered, then we’ll be less likely to bully. So one of our critical concerns is non-violence, and we just encourage people at the Open Mic to prepare material that is positive.”
Future MSPJ events will be listed on OrgSync, as well as being advertised on social media and in the Activities Hall.
The performance space in Regina Hall was renovated into the building during the 2012-2013 academic year.
The renovations done in Regina Hall’s lobby including the addition of a performance space.
The motivation behind the Regina renovations were focused on creating spaces where students and faulty could come together for events such as the Open Mic event.
The space where the Open Mic performances took place were originally an Italian eatery before renovations.
The space now is an area that many students can share, including those outside of the Regina residence hall.
For more information on MSPJ and possible events they will host in the future, please contact Campus Life at 773-341-5060.
Student and faculty are also encouraged to keep an eye out for postings around the Warde Academic Center relating to upcoming MSPJ events that are being hosted.
Gisselle Lopez
News Editor
About Post Author
